End of Story
by DeniseV
Summary: A follow on to my story A Road, Familiar, which was a series of missing scenes and a tag for the episode 3XK.  Castle gets another shot to apologize to Ryan, so long as Esposito doesn't shoot Castle first.
1. Chapter 1

Rick Castle kept up the fleeting glances toward his _partner_ from the previous day. Detective Kate Beckett knew that grabbing the writer's full attention would be near impossible until he and her injured detective talked. One thing that she'd learned over the course of her time working with Castle was that she needed to keep him focused in order to max out his contributions to a case. He was nothing if not similar to an enthusiastic puppy in this regard. She had, finally, and admittedly grudgingly, accepted the value that he had brought to her team. But there were other aspects of Rick Castle's personality that she found appealing, one of which was painfully obvious right now as she watched him send furtive looks to the detective sitting slumped at his desk. Castle's compassion and empathy, though often hidden by an irritatingly abundant mix of half goofiness, half cockiness, were never far from the surface. And his ability to accept when he was wrong, irritating in another way – that it happened so rarely, both that he was wrong so rarely _and_ accepting when he was – was in full view at the moment. And boy had Castle been wrong this time. His actions could easily have gotten he and Ryan killed. The brief apology at the scene yesterday had been followed this morning by a tongue-lashing from her and Captain Montgomery the likes of which Richard Castle had never seen before. He hadn't been able to hide behind his friendship with the mayor to avoid that meeting and, to his credit, he hadn't even tried playing that card. Kate Becket figured he'd never need to be called for a similar lapse again.

"Go talk to him," Beckett said softly.

Castle brought his attention back to the beautiful woman he worked with. He pursed his brow and said, "Talk to who?"

Beckett rolled her eyes. "Isn't it talk to _whom_? And you know who I mean."

Castle turned once again to look at Detective Kevin Ryan. He knew that they needed to talk. It wasn't like almost getting them killed was the only dumb thing that he'd done in the last twenty or so hours. Apparently, shock could manifest itself in more ways than Castle had ever learned from the research on the subject that he'd done for his novels. He thought he knew all of the symptoms, but the one about sticking one's foot in one's mouth he'd conveniently missed until this morning when he'd experienced said symptom himself regarding Ryan and his earnest suggestion that the detective move now that Jerry Tyson knew where he lived. Beckett had set him straight on that, too. She was far kinder about it than Javier Esposito had been on the phone earlier. She knew that it was only out of concern for Ryan that Esposito had forgotten that Castle had seen Beckett's place blow up, and for many frightening minutes had been unsure whether the female detective. . .his friend. . .had survived that blast. He was keenly aware – more aware than most – how dangerous it was when the bad guys knew where the good guys lived. No matter. Castle had to concede that Esposito was only doing what came naturally: protecting his partner, something that he had failed at miserably yesterday.

"I don't know," Castle said. "Maybe it's too soon," he surmised.

"It's not," Beckett said firmly. "I can't have lingering weirdness about this. We all have to work together." Castle continued to frown as he looked toward Ryan. The look on Castle's face was one that she had rarely witnessed herself. That Richard Castle was so unsure of his next step showed Kate Beckett that they all had a ways to go to get over what had happened in that motel room the previous day. Beckett smiled and then added, "If you're worried about Esposito, don't be. He should be up with the forensics guys for a while."

"Well, that's good." Castle paused and then turned his head quickly to look at Beckett, his eyes wide with worry. "Whoa, you think I need to worry about Esposito?"

She laughed at the reaction and then looked toward her injured detective. Her warm brown eyes came back to Castle's worried blue ones. "Just go talk to him," she suggested. She stood up and grasped his shoulder. 'Courage' could easily have been the next words out of her mouth.

Castle wiped his surprisingly sweaty hands on his pants as he stood and walked to Ryan's desk.

Detective Kevin Ryan, for his part, had not moved from his position seated at his desk. In fact, his head held in his left hand, elbow propped up on the desk, while he clicked with his mouse at his computer, or switched to write something down in his notebook, had been the only way Castle had observed the ailing detective for the entire two hours he'd been at the precinct. Actually, he'd been here longer, too long if you asked Castle, but Ryan had been away, giving his statement about yesterday's events, and then he and Esposito had been among the missing for another twenty or thirty minutes. Actually, Castle knew it had been exactly twenty-three and a thirty-one seconds. When they'd returned, Ryan looked paler than Castle ever remembered, which was quite a feat for the fair-skinned Irish-American. That Esposito gave Castle the stink eye as the detective duo sat down together at Ryan's desk said a lot about how welcome the writer would be if he ventured over while Esposito continued his guard dog impersonation.

"Hey," Castle said as he took the seat next to Ryan's desk.

"Hey," Kevin mimicked. He lifted his head and squinted at the novelist.

"Still have a headache," Castle said with a sympathetic wince.

Ryan put his hand up to his forehead and then rubbed his head from the front all the way around to where Jerry Tyson had hit him. "Yeah," was all he offered in reply. He cupped his head once more in his hand, his elbow propped again on the desk.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened." Kevin stopped Castle from continuing.

"You apologized already," he said, using the eraser on his pencil to tap something on his keyboard.

"That may be so, but when I did I didn't recognize the magnitude of what I'd done." Ryan looked Castle in the eye, but didn't comment. "I could have gotten you killed. I could have gotten _me_ killed." Realizing how that particular emphasis might sound, he quickly added, "Not that that's more important." Castle frowned and then asked, "Is putting one's foot in one's mouth a symptom of shock, and can shock last, like, twenty-four hours?"

Kevin Ryan laughed, a light snort that still managed to rock his already aching head. "Ow," he said as he then placed his right elbow on his desk and rested his face in his hands.

"Sorry," Castle offered. He reached his hand out to Ryan's shoulder. "You okay?"

"What?" Detective Javier Esposito demanded as he returned to the squad room. "You haven't done enough?"

"Esposito!" Beckett chastised firmly.

"Bro, i's aw'right," Kevin said with a tired slur.

"Beckett, I'm taking Kevin home," Esposito announced. Though he might have failed to note it, no one else missed Esposito's use of his partner's given name. That, as much as his cold shoulder towards Castle, expressed his great concern for his best friend.

"Javi," Kevin pleaded. Javier looked at Kevin and then glanced toward Castle. They didn't need words for Esposito to understand his partner's intent.

"I'll be back in five," he said warmly to Ryan. His look to Castle left a decided chill in the air.

"Don't mind him," Kevin said as he started to clean up his desk. He closed the file folder labeled 'Tyson, Jerry' and added, "He's all Papa Bear right now."

"He cares about you." Ryan nodded his head, which brought on a slight wince. He seemed to hold his head steadier as he started to shut down his computer. "I do, too."

"I know," Kevin answered, not looking up.

"I'm. . .I promise to be more careful. I don't know what got into me."

"Castle, you don't have to do this. I know you feel bad. . ."

"Kevin, you were knocked unconscious. Who knows why Jerry didn't just shoot us both?"

"I think we know why," Kevin answered.

"Yeah, I guess we do. Anyway, I don't feel that I'm expressing myself very well about how bad I feel about what happened," Castle admitted.

"Ironic, huh?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah."

Kevin put his hand on Castle's forearm. "We're okay."

"Are we?" the writer asked hopefully.

"We are," the injured detective assured his friend.

"Because I know that it's not just yesterday that I have to apologize for. My comments about your apartment. . ."

"Castle," Kevin started, "we can easily chalk up what happened yesterday to nerves, shock. . ."

"Stupidity," Castle offered.

"No. What you said about my place. . ._that_ was stupid," Kevin noted with a satisfied smile.

"Come on," Javier Esposito ordered.

"Yes, Dad," Kevin replied.

"Shut up," Esposito huffed in a less than successful attempt to hide his worry.

Kate Beckett walked up and stood next to a still-seated Rick Castle.

Ryan looked over to Beckett and Castle with a fake 'help me' look. Then he winked at them, winced at the pain the action caused, and followed his partner out of the squad room.

"You two okay?" Kate asked.

"Yeah," Castle answered as he continued to look toward where Ryan had exited. "He's amazingly forgiving."

"Well. . ." Beckett started, her voice sounding appealingly different to Castle, "as Jessica Rabbit would say," she continued, lowering her voice to its smoky, sexy depths, and lowering her lips to touch Castle's ear, adding breathily, "he was drawn that way."

And then she walked away. Castle frowned. He looked to where Beckett was headed. Was that a sashay? He stood to follow and asked softly to himself, "What just happened here?"


	2. Chapter 2

"When's Jenny getting back?" Esposito asked from Ryan's kitchen.

"Don't know," Kevin mumbled from his prone position on his couch. A wet cloth lay over his forehead, his eyes as well as his aching head soothed by its coolness.

Javier frowned. "You haven't talked to her today?"

"I don't talk to her every day," the ailing man grouched.

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"You do."

"Don't."

"Okay, I will concede that you haven't talked to her today." _Only because I haven't witnessed it, not because I believe it_, Javier thought to himself. "That would make exactly one day since I've known that you two were dating that you haven't talked to her."

Ryan sighed. He really didn't feel like talking. He really, _really_ didn't feel like talking about Jenny.

"What's wrong?" Esposito asked.

"Nothing," Kevin said, raising his voice. He raised his hand to his head, rubbed over top of the cloth, the vibrations of his voice echoing in his head like the percussion section of his high school band; they were loud even when they weren't always good. He took the cloth, wiped down the rest of his face and then made a move to stand.

"I'll take it," Javier offered.

"Thanks," Kevin said softly. He handed his partner the cloth as Esposito set down a steaming mug of tea. "Thanks, bro, but I don't think I can even get tea down right now."

Javier pushed Kevin's hips over and took a seat next to his partner on the big red couch. He reached out and put his hand on Ryan's forehead. "You're a little warm, even after the compress. You feelin' worse than before or about the same? No bullshit," Esposito warned.

"Same. 'm okay."

"I don't know about that. When have you ever been?"

A half-hearted 'ha-ha' came from Esposito's 'patient'. Javier stood and asked, "You gonna answer my question?"

Wha' question?" Kevin murmured.

"About Jenny."

Ryan frowned. "What about Jenny?" he asked worriedly.

Esposito looked quizzically at his friend. Was his partner just being difficult because he didn't want to answer the question, or was he less lucid than Javier thought he should be nearly twenty-four hours after being whacked hard in the head?

"I asked you earlier if you'd called Jenny? You went all denial on me 'bout talkin' to her every day."

"I don't," Kevin said, his eyes hooded, his face earnest.

He was hiding something. Javier rolled his eyes. "You do, bro."

Kevin sighed and said nothing.

"No, no. That's how we got in this loop in the first place." He stood up and demanded again, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Is. Wrong." Ryan insisted. "Ow," he added as he put his hand to his head.

"Okay, don't talk," Esposito said soothingly. "Just listen." Ryan watched as his best friend went on. "I think you haven't called Jenny because you don't want to scare her. You don't know how to tell her that Tyson is on the loose and knows where you live. That's understandable. But ya can't do it. She has to know."

"I told 'er," Kevin said. It was said in such a hushed tone that Javier nearly asked him to repeat it.

"Oh. Okay. Good." Kevin averted his eyes. Javier frowned. "Not good." He looked at his ailing partner suspiciously. "What did you say to her?" And then it dawned on Esposito. "Why isn't she here?"

"I told her to stay with her sister."

Javier nodded, though he was still frowning. "Okay. I guess." Something wasn't adding up. He watched Kevin and then he shook his head. "No way! First of all, did you forget that you cannot lie to me? It's not in your blood. It's pretty funny that you even try, you're so bad at it." He paused for effect and then demanded, "You did _not_ break up with her!" Kevin didn't answer. . .verbally. "Damn it, Kev. You broke up with her!"

Tears quickly pooled in Ryan's eyes. They just as quickly overflowed and ran down the sides of his face, the stream running into his ears. But even faster, Kevin swiped the remaining tears and valiantly turned off the faucet.

"I had to. I couldn't risk. . ." Kevin started as he tried to rise up from the couch, trying not to look at his best friend.

"Okay, okay. Look," Javier said, pushing Kevin back down. He sat back on the couch and grasped his partner's shoulder warmly. Ryan turned back to look him in the eye. "You're right, there is a danger here. But you just need to keep an eye on her. Yeah, maybe right now she shouldn't come here. But we'll make it so she can come back." Kevin looked away again. Javier shook his arm to get his friend's attention once more. "You love her, right?"

"Of course, you know I do."

"I know," Esposito said with empathy. "So you don't _want_ to let her go."

"I want her in my life for the rest of my life. I don't want her hurt. . .or dead."

"Not gonna happen," Javier insisted.

"I can't have her here while he's on the loose," Kevin pleaded. "I can't."

"Okay. But we'll figure something out." He looked Ryan in the eye until he got a nod of agreement from him. "Sounds like we got some repair work to do here, Kev."

"I am an idiot," Ryan said sadly.

"I'm not denying it, bro. But this is likely more about your concussion and not thinking straight than your idiot tendencies."

"Thanks," Kevin replied, followed by a wet sniff.

"You shoulda come to me."

"Everyone was busy. I let Tyson get away."

"God damn it! That was not you! I am going to kill Castle," Javier seethed.

A teary snort came from the prone man. "Beckett won't let you." He paused and added, "Neither will I."

Esposito stood and started for the kitchen. "You people never let me have any fun." He flung the refrigerator door open violently, grabbed a beer, and then slammed the door shut.

"Don't break my fridge. I paid big bucks to get that nice, narrow profile kind to fit there."

"Shut up." Ryan sat up slowly. "Don't get up."

"I gotta. Feelin' a little dizzy."

"Hey," Javier said as he set his bottle of beer on the counter and headed to his injured friend. "Maybe we should get you looked at again."

"No, I'm fine. Or I will be. Maybe if you would sit down and I wasn't tryin' to follow you up 'n' down and here and there. . ."

"Yeah, make this about me," Javier said irritably as he moved the forgotten mug of tea and sat on the coffee table facing Ryan, knowing it would be the least likely position to aggravate Kevin's aching head.

"Well, no, it really is about me," Kevin said with a smile.

"No, it's really about Castle."

"Castle and me. . .we're square," Kevin explained.

"End of story?" Esposito questioned incredulously.

"End of story," Ryan said firmly.

"Okay. Then let's try to figure out how to fix this problem with your girl," Javier offered.

Kevin Ryan shook his head and smiled at this man. He would be forever grateful to whatever god wanted to take credit for placing Javier Esposito in his life. The bounties of his life far outweighed any fears placed in it by Jerry Tyson. Why hadn't he known that? He needed to always remember that he had good people in his life that would help him find the answers when he couldn't see them for himself. Kate Beckett – strong and smart. His captain – an admirable and brave man. His girl – what a girl. . .how had he gotten so lucky? Even Castle – his compassion, his friendship, and maybe, one day, someone who could make Beckett happy, something that would gladden all of their hearts. But it was his partner – his best friend – who was the true constant. Having Javier by his side enriched everything in his life. Kevin Ryan was the luckiest man in the world.

The End.

* * *

I have to admit something. That last line that Castle has in chapter one? I stole it. It's something that my favorite character from the TV series The Magnificent Seven, Ezra Standish, said a couple of times in an episode. He's as perplexed with the goings-on in that episode as Castle was with Beckett what Kate did here. All the rest is mine. DV


End file.
